1. Other Related Applications.
The present invention relates to roof tiles.
2. Description of the Related Art.
The problem of cracked roof tiles, specially, when roofers walk on them is often traced to the lack of support resulting from partially overlapping of adjacent roof tiles. The parent application solved that problem by providing a honeycomb frame that has substantially a wedge shape. The interlocking features in that tile, however, were not suitable for currently known production molds.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 522,686 issued to John E. Donaldson in l984. However, it differs from the present invention because it did not achieve any material cost savings with its wedge-shape underside. Donaldson's tile is a solid piece and is, consequently, bulky and heavy. The small grooves C carved in on the extensions of the tile do not effectively route the water down if the rain is substantial.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.